I bought it to use as a standalone box for sampling chopping and sequencing, mainly when travelling to get my beatmaking fix.
More limited then my 2kxl but I love its workflow; the limitations tend to trigger your creativity more IMO.

The best overall SP is the 404... because it is battery powered, uses CF Cards, has tons of samples, ok effects, etc. The 303 is cheaper and madlib uses it so people talk about this one more...but the 404 kills it. However, the 303 looks better. The 606 kills the 505 in the same way the 404 kills the 303 and for the same reasons.

trust me, find yourself the 303, you can't sacrifice in this situation. You go with batteries, you go with constant battery purchases on top of the most important missing feature. FUCK IF MADLIB USES IT. It's so easy to use once you get it, especially if your accustomed to complex samplers or programs.

WHEN YOU GET IT FEEL FREE TO HIT ME UP... IN FACT I'LL SHARE SOME OF THE SECRET TECHNIQUES OF THAT MACHINE WITH YOU.

The only thing the 303 has on top of the 404 is this one thing.... resampling a live performance while also recording multiple samples all onto 1 pad.

The 404 cant do this, so I couldn't do the 404 anymore, SOLD IT! FUCK BATTERIES.

SEND ME SOME BEATS YOU MAKE OFF THE 303 ONCE YOU GET IT, i check your page more and more now

what are you talking about? ofcourse the 404 can do that. Infact it does a better job because its got more polyphony...

Im an avid 404 user, and if you can get a 404 instead of the 303, i say you should get it. Besides all the extra features(which are pretty important), the ad/da converters are much better on the 404 and will sound alot more detailed and richer.

the 404 is a godsend in live performances beause it holds so much on a single cf card and there simply alot more performance possibilities with it live...

THe 303 will do the job, but the 404 is a better machine without a doubt, and i highly recommend picking one up if you can...

Dialog, didnt i recommend the microkorg to you not too long ago? hows that going by the way??anyways, theres an sp series forum over here: www.sp-forums.com .Hopefully that can guide you towards the sp your after.

If it can do that then explain to me the process to which to do it and then I can tell you if its a glitch with the 404 I was using or what. Cuz I've been on the 303 since release and right when the 404 came out, I found that no matter what I couldn't do it

i checked out the sp forum-- some alright stuff there. i only have a 303 so probably not the best advisor, but i'd be willing to bet that between the 303, 606, sp-12, mpc and korg, madlib uses his 606 the most. i don't know why, but it seems like you get a 303 sound w/ more options. do you guys use the sequencers or just lay down tracks live, ynq-style?

ya you did and its going great im loving the microkorg but im still trying to expand the studio. i dunno i might get a sp or i might just save up for a mpc 1000 i gotta do some more research. thanks to everyone for the good info tho i appreciate the help alot.

DIALOG, ITS LIKE THIS: If you want a great, space friendly, user friendly sampler get the 303, if you want THE battery powered sampler, get the MPC500. If you want THE computer MPC... hold off and buy yourself the heavy duty MPC2500, don't sell yourself short. PERSONALLY I'm not a fond MPC user, so I'm dying to get that SP1200. DYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYING!!!!!!!!

DIALOG, ITS LIKE THIS: If you want a great, space friendly, user friendly sampler get the 303, if you want THE battery powered sampler, get the MPC500. If you want THE computer MPC... hold off and buy yourself the heavy duty MPC2500, don't sell yourself short. PERSONALLY I'm not a fond MPC user, so I'm dying to get that SP1200. DYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYING!!!!!!!!

The MPC1000 is superior to the 500 in every way...expect batteries. The 404 is better than the 303 and is probably a better portable machine than the 500. The 500 requires too much menu diving.

im gonna go with the 1000 ive actually used one for a bit and i found it to be pretty straight forward. i actually might just rent one for a month and see if its something i wanna own in the long run. yep thats the plan.

hell yeah it can! and your capable of turning mono samples into stereo samples by w/ the resampling function. not sure if the 404 can do the latter but I know you can't do the whole 5 samples+live sampling all during the resample recording. AND THATS WHY ITS SUPERIOR. not cuz Madlib uses one. shit madlib uses ONE of everything. who cares about that? I only care about what I can do, not what he can.

and your capable of turning mono samples into stereo samples by w/ the resampling function.

yes technically, but in actuality the sound is not gonna be different in both channels is it?

say if the record has a vocal panned to the left, and you sample it in mono so the vocal is now in the left AND right. then you resample it with a filter effect, in stereo, to another pad. you're telling me the vocal is only on the left again?